Key Takeaways:
Tempo, a payments-focused Layer-1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, launched its mainnet on March 18 alongside the Machine Payments Protocol for autonomous AI agent transactions.
The project raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation from Thrive Capital and others, with launch partners including Visa, Mastercard, Anthropic, OpenAI, DoorDash, Shopify, and Revolut.
Klarna became the first bank to issue a stablecoin on Tempo, and Visa extended the Machine Payments Protocol to card payments across its global network.
Tempo, the payments-focused blockchain developed by Stripe and crypto investment firm Paradigm, launched its mainnet on March 18 after a three-and-a-half-month testnet phase. The network went live alongside the Machine Payments Protocol, an open standard co-authored by Stripe and Tempo that lets AI agents request, authorize, and settle payments without human intervention.
The protocol supports both fiat and cryptocurrency. Visa contributed specifications so agents can pay with credit and debit cards. Lightspark extended it to Bitcoin Lightning Network payments. A payments directory with more than 100 services, from model providers to compute platforms to data APIs, was live on day one.
Tempo raised $500 million in 2025 at a $5 billion valuation from Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, and others. Its partner list reads like an infrastructure summit attendance sheet: Visa, Mastercard, Anthropic, OpenAI, DoorDash, Shopify, Revolut, Nubank, Ramp, and Standard Chartered. Klarna, which serves 114 million customers, launched KlarnaUSD on Tempo during testnet and became the first bank to issue a stablecoin on the blockchain.
The team includes Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, former Optimism CEO Liam Horne, Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, and former Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist. Huang told Fortune that agentic payments are still early but Tempo designed "the most elegant, minimal, efficient protocol that anyone can extend without our permission."
Tempo's launch comes the same week Mastercard announced its $1.8 billion acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK and Coinbase released its competing x402 agent payment protocol. Three separate infrastructure bets on the same thesis: machines will pay machines, and blockchain is how they settle.
People Also Ask
Q: What is Tempo blockchain? A: Tempo is a Layer-1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, purpose-built for high-speed stablecoin payments with sub-second finality and sub-penny fees.
Q: What is the Machine Payments Protocol? A: MPP is an open standard co-authored by Stripe and Tempo that allows AI agents and software services to request, authorize, and settle payments programmatically across multiple blockchains and payment rails.
Q: Who are Tempo's partners? A: Tempo's launch partners include Visa, Mastercard, Anthropic, OpenAI, DoorDash, Shopify, Revolut, Nubank, Ramp, Standard Chartered, Klarna, and Lightspark.
Q: How much funding did Tempo raise? A: Tempo raised $500 million in 2025 at a $5 billion valuation from investors including Thrive Capital and Greenoaks.